IB Learner Profile Posters
Last year, I rearranged my desks and found my eyes drawn to the IB Learner Profile posters that I currently had up on my wall. I had hung them up during my first year at Branksome and after 3 years, I was bored. I wanted fresh posters and something new. A quick browse of the internet didn’t reveal what I was looking for and so I decided to make my own. My original idea was to choose book characters that fit each attribute and create a poster with a photo. I started my brainstorm with Lord of the Rings, but then quickly moved to Harry Potter when I asked myself, “Would any of my middle school students have read LOTR?”
I probably had way more fun trying to think of characters to fit and quotes/evidence that would help support my pairing, and maybe I didn’t need to think so hard, but I have no regrets. Maybe it’s a testament to my love of all things books and fantasy, but I really enjoyed putting these together. After finishing HP, I also decided to make a Studio Ghibli set and am so glad I did. Instead of characters, I chose to match each movie to a different learner profile along with a quote from the film—or a brief description if I couldn’t quite fine what I was looking for. For each set, I ended up with 11 posters in total because I made duplicates for Risk-Taker (HP) and Reflective (Ghibli). (See posters images below).
Upon completion, I decided to put these on display outside of my classroom during one of my prep periods and the response was instantaneous. As soon as the period ended, students emerged into the halls and a large group paused to peruse the posters. Based on the chatter, it was a big success. I think, too, that this activity would fit well into an English class. Students could pick characters from short stories or novels and justify their IB Learner attribute(s). Depending on how you phrase the activity, it could work throughout the unit for different levels of critical thinking—and if you pair it with a poster, you might get a new set for your own classroom!
Until then, if you like the look of mine, please feel free to download the PDF version and share. I mainly used google images, different lists of quotes, and then edited them all on Canva for A3-sized paper.
Harry Potter Learner Profile
Ghibli Learner Profile
